THE search-and-rescue operation to locate a helicopter with just a pilot on board that lost contact with the Kuala Lumpur Air Traffic Control Centre before being reported missing in the Bidor area, has been suspended this evening due to unfavourable weather conditions.

Perak police chief Mohd Yusri Hassan Basri said the operation will resume at 8am tomorrow. 

He said for the purpose of search efforts and progress monitoring, an operations room has been activated at the Bidor police station with 79 personnel including police air units and the General Operations Force, the Fire and Rescue Department and the Forestry Department. 

“A helicopter was dispatched at 4pm to organise a search mission in the lower Perak border area.

“We received information from people who heard an explosion at Jeram Mengkuang and some said a helicopter was flying low in the Kampung Kenangan area, so the incident command centre will be set up tomorrow morning in the search locations. 

“Thus far, we are concentrating on the coordinates provided, in the Chikus Forest Reserve, and areas where information was provided by the public. The search team will narrow down the search areas tomorrow,” he said at a press conference at the Bidor police station. 

He said the victim’s has not been identified but based on information from the Civil Aviation Authority (CAAM), only one pilot was involved and there were no passengers.

It is understood that the pilot is a non-citizen.

Earlier, Transport Minister Wee Ka Siong at a press conference said the privately owned Eurocopter aircraft lost contact at 12.16pm, with its last-known location being a forest area near Bidor. 

The helicopter was scheduled to land at Sultan Azlan Shah Airport in Ipoh at 12.37pm after departing from Sultan Abdul Aziz Shah Airport, Subang, at 11.37am. – Bernama, September 11, 2022.